| Total population | |
|---|---|
| extinct as a band | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Northern California | |
| Languages | |
| Patwin language | |
| Religion | |
| Indigenous religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| otherPatwin people |
TheSuisun, or Suisunes, were aPatwin band ofWintun people. They lived in theSuisun Bay andSuisun Marsh regions ofSolano County inNorthern California.[1]
Their traditional homelands stretched between what is nowSuisun City,Vacaville andPutah Creek around 200 years ago. The Suisun's main village, Yulyul, is believed to be whereRockville, California, is today.
Father Abella, visitor to the tribe in 1811, indicated they resided in the present location ofFairfield, north of the Suisun Bay.[2] One of the Suisun's primary food sources wasacorns. Their diet also included fish as well asminer's lettuce. Their huts (as recorded by the Spaniards in 1817) were conicalwikiups made of rushes ortule thatch.
The Suisun were one band of thePatwin Indians, who were the southern branch of theWintun group, who had lived in the region for an estimated 4,000 years. Few records have been handed down; approximately 2,500 to 5,000 Patwins existed in the 18th century.
By 1800, Spain had taken control of most of the Bay Area, having erected seven missions in theOhlone region south and west of the Suisun's region. The closest mission to the Suisun was across theSan Francisco Bay,Mission San Francisco de Asís.Franciscan missionaries wanted to bring all tribes into the Spanish-controlledmissions, pueblos, andpresidios; however, the Spanish had not yet reached north of the present-dayCarquinez Strait to the Suisun. The Suisun lived sufficiently far away from the first missions to rebel from the incoming Spaniards, and over time they joined with the other Patwin tribes in thecentral valley region to resist the incursion on their lands and maintain their freedom. They acquired horses from mission runaways and mission outposts.
The Suisun might have avoided contact for several more decades with the missionaries; however, in the early 19th century, Indian runaways from the missions began to seek shelter with the Suisun. The missions then sentMission Indians to round up "Christian" runaways. The interaction set in motion a chain of Indian battles and growing distrust.
The next year in 1811, perhaps due to the loss of 125 men, a large group of Suisun gave up the resistance and moved intoMission San Francisco de Asís in present-day San Francisco. A total of 326 Suisun were baptized at this mission between 1810 and 1816.
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In 1817,Jose DeArguello, the commandant of thePresidio of San Francisco sent his lieutenant Jose Sanchez to lead another attack against the Suisun tribe, believed to have taken place in the hills behindBenicia. The Spaniards subsequently gained ground in present-dayFairfield andSuisun City today, reaching the Suisun village of Chief Malica, leader of the tribe. At this village, probably with imminent defeat of his people, Chief Malica and the majority of the tribe chose to end their lives in a tragic mass suicide. The Spaniards witnessed the village's brushy huts burst into flames. The chief chanting and singing, leapt into the flames, followed by the people of the village, including the women with children and babies. The Spaniards tried to save some while several Indians fled into the hills. The remaining tribe survived in the hills or through assimilation, reemerging under the leadership of Chief Sem-Yeto, also known as Chief Solano.
Sem-Yeto (later known as Chief Solano), born about 1800, emerged as the next in line to be the chief of the next generation of Suisun. Sem-Yeto was described as tall, 6 feet 7 inches, handsome and brave. Sem-Yeto was baptized in the San Francisco Mission in July 1810 at roughly age 10 with the name "Francisco Solano" and lived there until adulthood. He became known as Chief Solano' His baptism took place two months after the tragedy of 1810.[2] Sem-Yeto was possibly captured as a child in Moraga's raid of 1810 or his family brought him within two months of the battle.
In 1823, Sem-Yeto and the Suisun people at Mission San Francisco moved into the new mission in the town ofSonoma, California, theMission San Francisco de Solano, to help build and populate this final Franciscan mission built north of the San Francisco Bay.
In 1834, GeneralMariano Guadalupe Vallejo of Sonoma, as the comandante of the new pueblo projects in the region, became a very valuable patron and friend to Chief Solano, and formed an alliance with the Suisun. The mission system was closing down. Chief Solano and the Suisun led many expeditions with the object of quelling the other tribes of the region, particularly "theWappo, theSatisyomis (aka Sotoyomes, a Wappo tribe)[5] and theCainameros (aka thePomo Indians of Cainama in the region toward Santa Rosa)", who were attempting to throw off Mexican domination. Chief Solano eventually helped to secure peace between the region's Native Americans and the Mexicans. A peace treaty was signed in 1836. With the alliance with General Vallejo, the tribe was relatively powerful.
On a political venture, Vallejo even arranged for and sent Chief Solano and 100 warrior Suisun to travel down toMonterey, California to impress and seek military support fromJuan Bautista Alvarado, governor of Alta California (1836–1837, 1838–1842).[6]
In 1837, a smallpox epidemic decimated the Indigenous population of the Sonoma region, as well as from other diseases brought in from the Spaniards as well as the Russians atFort Ross.[7][8] Chief Solano was one of the few Natives to receive a vaccination.
Chief Solano was also one of a handful of Indigenous Californians to receive a land grant in the mission secularization and parcelling out of Mexican-American lands. The Suisun who survived the epidemic began to earn their livelihoods through farm labor or fishing. Some chose to work as seasonal or year-round ranch labors for Vallejo at theRancho Petaluma Adobe or other area ranches.[8]
In 1846, at the end of theBear Flag Revolt when California was ceded to the United States, General Vallejo was taken prisoner by Americans atSutter's Fort, Sem-Yeto fled north, and the people continued to earn their living on the ranches of California.